1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sheet supplying apparatus for supplying sheets to an image recording apparatus or an image reading apparatus, and a recording apparatus or a reading apparatus for effecting the recording or reading of information on a sheet supplied by the use of this sheet supplying apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Sheet supplying apparatuses have heretofore been widely used in a recording apparatus, a reading apparatus and other various apparatuses, and one disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 7-81787 is known. In this sheet supplying apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings, a number of sheets of film F piled on a sheet holding member 1 may be supplied to a recording apparatus or a reading apparatus, not shown, by the following action.
A driving portion is comprised of a first drive source 2 and a second drive source 3, and if the second drive source 3 is operated when the first drive source 2 is inoperative, then a screw portion 4a is rotated with a rotatable shaft 4 and a slider 6 is moved to the left with a nut 5. By the slider 6 being moved, a pin 7 slides leftwardly in the pin guide hole 8a of an arm supporting member 8, and arms 9 and 10 are pivotally moved about a support shaft 11 and a suction pad supporting member 12 is moved downwardly. Suction pads 15 and 16 mounted on the suction pad supporting member 12 through nipples 13 and 14, respectively, come into contact with the surface of the film F and the suction pads 15 and 16 adhere to the film F by the operation of a vacuum pump, not shown. When in this state, both of the first drive source 2 and the second drive source 3 are operated, the rotatable shaft 4 and the arm supporting member 8 are rotated at the same speed in the same direction and the suction pad supporting member 12 supplies the uppermost film F to the recording apparatus or the reading apparatus while the spacing between it and the rotatable shaft 4 keeps constant.
In recent years, it has often been the case that a seal having identification information is stuck on the film F at a location which will not hinder recording or reading. The thickness of this kind of seal is often e.g. 20-100 .mu.m and therefore, when a number of sheets of film F with a seal are stacked, a protuberant portion Fa by the piling of the seals is created in the film F. This has given rise to the problem that in a sheet supplying apparatus according to the conventional art or a recording apparatus or a reading apparatus using such device, one suction pad 15 alone is applied to the protuberant portion Fa of the film F and the stable supply of the film F becomes impossible.